Ritchie Blackmore tone- Is this attainable with Axe-FX 2.

O

oacikgoz

Inspired
I'm kind of obsessed with Blackmore's DP-Mk3 tone... think of Burn album, and California Jam live tone. I know that he used heavily modified 200+Watt Marshall Major Heads with a very rare Aiwa-TP1011 tape deck as a preamp. (It's all silicon, no germanium, no tubes... still a mystery what it does to the tone)

Here is an example:

Deep Purple - Mistreated HD 1974 (Live in California) - YouTube

Apparently he used the Marshalls fairly clean (these amps have power amp sections almost impossible to distort apparently) and got most of the drive from the mic preamp of the tape deck.

I know that Axe-FX does not have a Marshall Major simulation and even if it did, it would probably sound very different due to mods on the amp. Apparently what's special about Majors is that the power section is ultra-linear.(I have no idea what that means, aside from the fact that it makes it sound more hi-fi'ish.) And some of the mods on the amp are listed on a boutique FX-pedal company's website (BSM) whose owner is seriously obsessed with Blackmore's tone. I'm quoting what he says there:

"As a result, Ritchies Major 200 Lead amp was modified by cascading the pre-amp stage, connecting an additional pre-amp stage with relatively low gain (approx. factor 10 = 20dB instead of the common 35dB of a common used pre-amp tube) together with the stock one. The reason for this was, that the AIWA had something more to offer besides only an echoe-effect: gain until the very end and a high output level ! This was the reason, why Ritchie´s amp was not modded for maximum gain."

"Besides some other things, the tone stack was modified now with a 56kOhm slope-R and a stock 500pF treble-C, which was raised to 700pF later when Ritchie played with "Rainbow"."

Can Axe-Fx 2 sound anything like his tone? With Axe-Fx, I tried the tape drive in front of Plexi as well as Hi-Watt (same power tubes as Majors) but it did not sound anything like him. Did anyone go after his tone?
 
I know that Ritchie basically plays clean but very loud, it was John Lords hammond organ thru a marshall amp that gave Deep Purple a degree of distortion to the bands overall sound.
Having said that I would love to be able to get this tone as well, to me its the holy grail of Fender strat thru Marshall amp tone, sounds straightforward but Ive not been able to acheive it as yet myself.
There are some Blackmore patches in the patch exchange somewhere might be worth a look at
Love Burn, Ritchies best studio tone, (Made in Japan is the best IMO)
cheers
 
Great topic! We are playing many Deep Purple songs (Burn too!) in my current band. I'm using Marsha HBE amp in my Ultra, it's quite ok. But I'm in a Axe-FX II waiting list and would also love to get some advice of how to get Blackmore tone out of it. Also Cab tips are welcome!
 
while obcessed hunter's of one specific tone will almost always be unsatisfied, because they are, well, obcessed and lost perspective IMO, the Axe is the best tool out there to get there as close as possible.
Can the Axe do it? the question is more like: Can you do it?

I personally don't believe in any voodoo magic piece of gear, it's all distortion/compression and eq.
the only 'magic' ingredient is Mr. Blackmore himself.
 
AIWATP1011.jpg

Wow, someone posted the schematic for the ultra-rare Aiwa Reel-to-Reel tapedeck that Blackmore used as a preamp. Is there an expert on the forum who can translate what this unit does to the sound when guitar is plugged into the mic input?

So his chain is the following:

Aiwa TP-1011 => High-pass filter modded into Marshall Major preamp => Marshall Major
 
DonPetersen said:
I personally don't believe in any voodoo magic piece of gear, it's all distortion/compression and eq.
the only 'magic' ingredient is Mr. Blackmore himself.
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I agree where the focus is, but of course gear counts too. Why do you think Mr. Blackmore himself modded his Marshal so heavily, and had a special preamp to color the tone? Naturally because of a very specific sound that he was after.
 
I believe the Tape Dist block in front of any Marshall-esque amp sim will get close.
I actually here charactri ... charcchteri ... *looking up* ... characteristics of that Drive block in the Youtube video.
 
That amp was REALLY loud as well. A lot of that tone came from the interaction of the guitar and a very loud cranked marshall. A lot more of it came from the way he was playing and having the distorted organ behind him. I would guess if he were playing a stock plexi of that era, it would sound similar.

What it look like the guy was saying about his set up is the tape unit was supplying the drive + preamp section, the poweramp section was fairly clean.

so basically, tape drive or FET boost, moderate drive, lower master volume, maybe tweak the bright cap and experiment with a ton of cabs (that will shape the tone more than anything else).

You can try several different amp models. I would experiment with
Cameron med
Cameron High
Shiver Lead
jcm 800s

To really get the overtones that he is getting there, you are going to have to turn up LOUD. That is an amp on the verge of feedback. It sounds like he is using the volume on his guitar and his picking to vary the loudness and dynamics.
 
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Unfortunately that's not the case. Marshall Major was a completely different animal than other Plexi amps. The power amp section is ultra-linear and it has a very low-gain preamp section. Almost all distortion came from Aiwa tape-deck driving the amp's preamp section.
 
"Ultra-linear" is just another way of saying "less distortion".

The Axe-FX gives you the flexibility to simulate that. Just keep the Master and Drive controls lower and turn up the amp output level to compensate.

Another thing you could do is turn up the Damping control a bit. More negative feedback will product a tighter and brighter power amp sound.
 
Use advance parameter. Stiff B+. Use damp. Lower the master, the drive and cranck level to compensate. Use vox emulation as distortion. Use filter. C'mon.
Use Dr. Z. emulation. Real one is ultralinear.
 
oacikgoz said:
Unfortunately that's not the case. Marshall Major was a completely different animal than other Plexi amps. The power amp section is ultra-linear and it has a very low-gain preamp section. Almost all distortion came from Aiwa tape-deck driving the amp's preamp section.
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Whats not the case? HE wasn't playing really loud? I'm pretty sure that is the case. The tape unit was driving the preamp section. You can do this a number of ways. Drive pedal up front (fet boost ot tape drive), you can also up the input trim. You can also turn up the drive (all that really does is increase volume to the preamp tubes - which is what the preamp was doing).

The power amp section being very linear (and 200W) means he probably isn't getting much poweramp distortion which is why I said keep the power amp low.

Experiment, don't lock your self into what amps/cabs you think you should use but what is going to work. Don't throw out suggestion before even trying them.
 
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You can also try starting using the Plexi Treb w/ the Plexi advanced settings from the ultras Plexi 2.

http://forum.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-ii-discussion/40689-plexi-treble-bright-cap.html

Tweak the parameters from there to get closer to the tone your looking for.


Also, I assume you have a strat modded like Blackmore's?

In regards to the tape drive or fet boost. Try messing with the eq section. You can really shape the drive character there.
 
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javajunkie said:
Experiment, don't lock your self into what amps/cabs you think you should use but what is going to work. Don't throw out suggestion before even trying them.
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This is the key. I've been able to nail many classic tones using amp models I wouldn't have suspected, and in some cases models that run contrary to the actual amp used on the original recording. You should audition *every* amp model, trying each with various master volume settings. Choosing a proper IR or combination of IRs is just as important. I have yet to find a tone the Axe can't come *very* close to with the proper model, IR, and eq.
 
Thanks guys, I'll try these suggestions once I get my Axe-Fx 2. (Damn I still have to wait for it) With Axe-Fx Ultra, I did not succeed in getting his tone. (It's sold...)

Any other input?
 
I grew up as a Blackmore freak and at one point had a Marshall major. My favorite though was one particular 50 watt non- master plexi that I used for years. I owned super leads, (a super Tremolo) and 3 different 50 watters. JavaJunkie had it right.... the key was volume. The Marshalls basically ran clean with mainly output and speaker distortion. Those celestions were bleeding but that was a big part of the tone. Output distortion sounds bigger and cleaner than preamp distortion... at least to my ears. Ritchie probably used the Aiwa to boost the input volume.... my Major never seemed to have as hot a preamp as the other Marshalls I owned. Again, this is subjective. I'm just sharing my own experience. I've always preferred a cleaner sound using mainly output distortion, but the earbleeding levels are not exactly good for your ears, nor are clubowners particularly happy with it. Over the years, I tried experimenting with attenuators, but without fail, all of them changed the tone to some degree. One last thing, you need a good single coil with definition in the high mids to complete it.
 
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Perhaps Cliff could model the Marshall Major in a future firmware update? Personally, I'd prefer the Soldano X99 back, but, what the heck, doesn't hurt to ask. Would also love to see a Rangemaster(unlessmthe Treble Booster is a RangeMaster clone) or Hornesby-Skewes Treble Booster too, and a Maestro Phase Shifter ( can't do early Rush or Yes without it).
 
Adinfinitum said:
Perhaps Cliff could model the Marshall Major in a future firmware update? Personally, I'd prefer the Soldano X99 back, but, what the heck, doesn't hurt to ask. Would also love to see a Rangemaster(unlessmthe Treble Booster is a RangeMaster clone) or Hornesby-Skewes Treble Booster too, and a Maestro Phase Shifter ( can't do early Rush or Yes without it).
Click to expand...

That would be sweet! BTW Blackmore was using Majors with Bass specs if I remember correctly.
 
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